MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Former three division world champion Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14KOs) returned to the ring after nearly a year off, and won a ten round unanimous decision over Jonathan Oquendo (24-4, 16KOs). The scores were 96-94, 98-92, 98-92. The fight was Mares' first since the knockout loss to Jhonny Gonzalez from last August, and his first under new trainer Virgil Hunter.

Mares had the edge in the early going. Oquendo opened up in the fourth round, landing good shots to the head of Mares and bad cut opened up around the left eye of Mares after an accidental clash of heads. The fight was grueling and mostly fought on the inside with neither guy gaining a significant advantage.

The fight wasn't pretty to watch, with plenty of holding on the inside and Mares choosing to use his legs more often than his usual style of slugging away.

Mares is not a featherweight don't see him beating any of the top fighters, he's just not big enough to use the style he wants against bigger men.
He really should go back down in weight or be selective with who he fights I expect them to make the LSC rather soon.
Stay away from Gonzo.

It was a boring fight fight! Mares DID NOT show any improvement & should serously consider going back with any of his past trainers. Oquendo is NOTHING SPECIAL he was dropped 5 times in 3 rounds by Juanma & dropped twice by "Papito" Vazquez in both of his KO losses & niether Juanma nor Vazquez ar...

After a brutal KO loss and 11 months off he looked great. He started off slow but once he shook off that ring rust and tasted adversity with the cut, he got busy. I liked how he was using his jab and setting up combinations and would land some powerful counters on Oquendo. He does seem to clinch ...